Hulkenberg's standing up for Stroll: "He was really unlucky"

"Running fitness is not driving fitness. There is no machine on which you can train that. Especially in the fast curves you feel brutally how it pulls on you in that part of the body. That's why I was limited in pushing myself to the limit, especially between Copse and Becketts. I couldn't keep it clean like I used to," Hulkenberg says about the lack of rhythm.

Sergio Perez' replacement left Renault after last season and although he has only been out for a few months, the Emmerik-born driver is looking forward to it. "The car is so different, its vibrations and reactions so foreign that every little thing confronts you with new tasks. Even if your fuel is taken out of your tank for qualifying. This gives the whole car a new dynamic that you have to get used to," he explains.

Because Hulkenberg couldn't start and Lance Stroll only finished ninth, the first weekend at Silverstone was disappointing for Racing Point. However, according to the German, there was more. "Lance was really unlucky. He was driving in traffic the whole time. It would have been really interesting to see what kind of speed would have been possible with a free ride."